ABN Amro net profits down 13% to 475m

The parent bank of ABN Amro Lease posted underlying profits of 475m (£375.3m) for the first quarter of 2016, a drop of 13% from 543m a year ago.

Net interest income remained robust; said the bank, while fees, commissions and other operating incomes were negatively impacted by volatile markets.

The Dutch bank said costs increased due to 98m of regulatory levies (nil in Q1 2015), which resulted in a considerable drop in its operating results, but that loan impairments were almost nil (252m in Q1 2015), benefiting from improvements in the Dutch economy.

ABN AMRO Group chairman of the managing board Gerrit Zalm said: "2016 got off to a challenging start due to turmoil in the financial markets, caused by concerns over the Chinese economy and initially a further decline in the oil price, combined with a further reduction in already negative interest rates. Net profit for the first quarter of 2016 was 475 million, a decline of 68m compared with the same period in 2015. The first quarter of 2016 included regulatory levies of 98m compared with nil in the first quarter of 2015.

"The decline in profitability was the result of lower revenues caused by market volatility in the first two months, combined with higher operating expenses (up 8%) due to regulatory levies – all this resulted in a 31% drop in the operating result. The decline in operating profit was largely offset by a sharp decrease in loan impairments to almost nil, well below the average through-the-cycle and levels seen in the first quarter of 2015."